Community currency : an approach to economic sustainability in our local bioregion

Throughout the United States many rural areas face challenges to economic sustainability. Community currency projects attempt to confront these challenges by ensuring that wealth and resources are maintained within a geographical region. The specific research question investigated in this thesis was, "Why do individuals participate in community currency movements and does that participation actually promote economic sustainability?" Social identity theory, social exchange theory and the concept of social capital guided the analysis for individual participation in the Humboldt Exchange, Humboldt County's local community currency project. A variety of methods were employed in this study. These methods included a qualitative study of Exchange participants and personnel through key informant interviews and a quantitative study through the Humboldt Exchange Survey 2008. Survey data reveals that about half of the Humboldt State University is aware of what community currency is, while more then three-quarters of that same population are unaware of the Humboldt Exchange. Key informant findings propose that individuals are involved in the Humboldt Exchange because they have goods and services that they wish to exchange with others, whom they identify with, because doing so not only creates a heightened sense of community, but also ensures that a certain amount of wealth and resources are maintained locally. However, as survey data shows, lack of awareness of the Humboldt Exchange essentially prohibits any form of economic sustainability, since this sustainability is only possible through considerable participation in this community currency project.